telling a congressional panel that a flurry of costly regulatory activity is forcing co-op members into difficult choices.

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George Hand urged the House Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements to keep affordability in mind as it makes policy decisions, saying he and his board of trustees encounter co-op members every day who are struggling to pay their bills.

“What comes first—food, shelter, electricity, doing without?” asked Hand, who has been at Seminole-based Canadian Valley Electric Cooperative for 28 years.

“We have people who call our office, wanting to know how much their next electric bill is going to be, so they will know how much they have to spend at the grocery store,” he said.

During a Feb. 14 subcommittee hearing, he cautioned that new costs associated with regional transmission planning, environmental mandates and consideration of the lesser prairie- chicken as an endangered species will drive prices upward—and don’t take the human factor into account.

Predicting the Next

Canadian Valley serves a high percentage of retired residential farmers, and about half of the homes being built in the area are less energy-efficient manufactured housing.

“Many of these homes are there because that’s all the people could afford to put there. Their electric bills, many times in the hot months and the cold months, far exceed their house payment,” he said.

co-op power

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he general manager of an Oklahoma electric cooperative put a real-world perspective on the rising cost of electricity,

Check your filter. Before you turn on your air conditioner, be sure to replace your filter. Your system will run more efficiently, and you&#39;ll save money!

PUBLISHED FOR MEMBERS OF KIAMICHI ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE A supplement to Oklahoma Living.

Several other witnesses focused on energy data and federal policies, but Hand got the attention of Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, when he mentioned his 87-year- old mother refuses to use a window air conditioner unless someone is watching because it costs too much to operate, though her son runs an electric co-op.

“This is something I see as a problem,” Farenthold responded. “We’ve gotten the low-hanging fruit on people lowering their energy costs.”

Hand recommended the subcommittee not repeat a mistake of the 1970s, when Congress pushed generators into building coal-based plants because natural gas was thought—wrongly— to be in short supply.

Dictating which fuel generators should use by setting emissions standards that force coal plant retirements is dangerous public policy, he added. A diverse fuel mix guards against price spikes and helps control energy costs.

“We must realize that regulations have a cumulative cost and eventually the consumer will rebel or just give up,” Hand said.